Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland.
In the Arctic, the traditional diet exposes its people to a high intake of mercury especially from marine mammals. To determine whether the mercury is accumulated in humans, we analyzed autopsy samples of liver, kidney and spleen from adult ethnic Greenlanders who died between 1990 and 1994 from a w...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2007
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/human-accumulation-of-mercury-in-greenland(96883e30-e55e-11dc-9afb-000ea68e967b).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.004 |
id |
ftuniaarhuspubl:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/96883e30-e55e-11dc-9afb-000ea68e967b |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftuniaarhuspubl:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/96883e30-e55e-11dc-9afb-000ea68e967b 2023-05-15T15:09:42+02:00 Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland. Johansen, Poul Mulvad, Gert Pedersen, Henning Sloth Hansen, Jens C Riget, Frank 2007 https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/human-accumulation-of-mercury-in-greenland(96883e30-e55e-11dc-9afb-000ea68e967b).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.004 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Johansen , P , Mulvad , G , Pedersen , H S , Hansen , J C & Riget , F 2007 , ' Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland. ' , Science of the Total Environment , vol. 377 , no. 2-3 , pp. 173-8 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.004 Diet Environmental Monitoring Female Greenland Humans Kidney Liver Male Mercury Methylmercury Compounds Middle Aged Selenium Spleen Water Pollutants Chemical article 2007 ftuniaarhuspubl https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.004 2020-07-18T20:49:01Z In the Arctic, the traditional diet exposes its people to a high intake of mercury especially from marine mammals. To determine whether the mercury is accumulated in humans, we analyzed autopsy samples of liver, kidney and spleen from adult ethnic Greenlanders who died between 1990 and 1994 from a wide range of causes, natural and violent. Liver, kidney and spleen samples from between 33 and 71 case subjects were analyzed for total mercury and methylmercury, and liver samples also for selenium. Metal levels in men and women did not differ and were not related to age except in one case, i.e. for total mercury in liver, where a significant declining concentration with age was observed. The highest total mercury levels were found in kidney followed by liver and spleen. Methylmercury followed the same pattern, but levels were much lower, constituting only 19% of the total mercury concentration in liver and spleen and as little as 3% in kidney. In liver selenium was found in surplus to mercury on a molar basis. Mercury concentrations in the liver and kidneys of Greenlanders were elevated compared to levels in the general population in Japan, Korea and several European countries, except in the Faroe Islands where mercury levels were 2-3 times higher. This is in accordance with the expected exposure of mercury in the diet. Udgivelsesdato: 2007-May-15 Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland greenlander* Aarhus University: Research Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Science of The Total Environment 377 2-3 173 178 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Aarhus University: Research |
op_collection_id |
ftuniaarhuspubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Diet Environmental Monitoring Female Greenland Humans Kidney Liver Male Mercury Methylmercury Compounds Middle Aged Selenium Spleen Water Pollutants Chemical |
spellingShingle |
Diet Environmental Monitoring Female Greenland Humans Kidney Liver Male Mercury Methylmercury Compounds Middle Aged Selenium Spleen Water Pollutants Chemical Johansen, Poul Mulvad, Gert Pedersen, Henning Sloth Hansen, Jens C Riget, Frank Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland. |
topic_facet |
Diet Environmental Monitoring Female Greenland Humans Kidney Liver Male Mercury Methylmercury Compounds Middle Aged Selenium Spleen Water Pollutants Chemical |
description |
In the Arctic, the traditional diet exposes its people to a high intake of mercury especially from marine mammals. To determine whether the mercury is accumulated in humans, we analyzed autopsy samples of liver, kidney and spleen from adult ethnic Greenlanders who died between 1990 and 1994 from a wide range of causes, natural and violent. Liver, kidney and spleen samples from between 33 and 71 case subjects were analyzed for total mercury and methylmercury, and liver samples also for selenium. Metal levels in men and women did not differ and were not related to age except in one case, i.e. for total mercury in liver, where a significant declining concentration with age was observed. The highest total mercury levels were found in kidney followed by liver and spleen. Methylmercury followed the same pattern, but levels were much lower, constituting only 19% of the total mercury concentration in liver and spleen and as little as 3% in kidney. In liver selenium was found in surplus to mercury on a molar basis. Mercury concentrations in the liver and kidneys of Greenlanders were elevated compared to levels in the general population in Japan, Korea and several European countries, except in the Faroe Islands where mercury levels were 2-3 times higher. This is in accordance with the expected exposure of mercury in the diet. Udgivelsesdato: 2007-May-15 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Johansen, Poul Mulvad, Gert Pedersen, Henning Sloth Hansen, Jens C Riget, Frank |
author_facet |
Johansen, Poul Mulvad, Gert Pedersen, Henning Sloth Hansen, Jens C Riget, Frank |
author_sort |
Johansen, Poul |
title |
Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland. |
title_short |
Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland. |
title_full |
Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland. |
title_fullStr |
Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland. |
title_sort |
human accumulation of mercury in greenland. |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/human-accumulation-of-mercury-in-greenland(96883e30-e55e-11dc-9afb-000ea68e967b).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.004 |
geographic |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland greenlander* |
genre_facet |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland greenlander* |
op_source |
Johansen , P , Mulvad , G , Pedersen , H S , Hansen , J C & Riget , F 2007 , ' Human accumulation of mercury in Greenland. ' , Science of the Total Environment , vol. 377 , no. 2-3 , pp. 173-8 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.004 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.004 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
377 |
container_issue |
2-3 |
container_start_page |
173 |
op_container_end_page |
178 |
_version_ |
1766340841314451456 |